Helping lift the financial sector was speculation that banks may begin to raise dividends. CreditSights reported that U.S. Bancorp
USB, +1.53%
at the Goldman Sachs conference said it is looking to restart dividends in early 2011, while Bank of New York Mellon Corp.
BK, +1.66%
emphasized it hopes to increase its dividend and/or stock buybacks following the completion of the Federal Reserve’s stress test in early 2011.

The tax compromise President Barack Obama cut with Republicans calls for an extension of the 15% rate on dividends, and some analysts expect this lower rate will compel more companies to raise or start issuing dividends. Read more on S&P's tax dividends.

U.S. Bancorp shares closed up 3.3%, while Bank of New York shares added 2.2%.

American International Group Inc.
AIG, +0.44%
slipped more than 3.9% on reports the Treasury Department is planning a large AIG stock offering in 2011, and were halted just before the closing bell.

In a filing made public late in the session, the insurer said it plans to recapitalize the company and pay back a credit facility extended by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. It will use $27 billion in proceeds from its initial public offering of AIA Group Ltd. and sale of American Life Insurance Co. Read more on AIG’s plans.

Earlier this week, the Treasury said it was exiting its equity stake in Citigroup Inc.
C, +1.23%
, which was also bailed out by the government in the financial crisis.

Morgan Stanley
MS, +1.08%
shares added more than 3%. The bank Wednesday said it has received regulatory approval to sell its stake in China International Capital Corp. to an investor group. Morgan Stanley expects to book a pretax gain of about $700 million after the transactions closes.

Lift for Lincoln, MetLife

Lincoln National Corp.
LNC, +1.87%
shares surged 7.5%, the top percentage gainer in the S&P 500 on Wednesday.

The Lincoln CEO was hard-pressed to explain Wednesday’s rally in the stock and seemed to dismiss rising interest rates as the reason.

“I don’t think equity markets or interest-rate levels are singularly the issues that affect our share price,” Glass said, according to a transcript provided by FactSet CallStreet. “The macroeconomic factors over time can ... produce head winds. Low interest rates could put a drag on our earnings. Equity markets on the other hand can ... help our earnings.”

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use. Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. All quotes are in local exchange time. Real-time last sale data for U.S. stock quotes reflect trades reported through Nasdaq only. Intraday data delayed at least 15 minutes or per exchange requirements.